Translator: Leonhart Editor: Arocks141 TLC: Arocks141 Proofreader: Arocks141
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Chapter 1: Cream Stew of Beginning – 1st half
I love cooking.
I, who grew up looking at my mother’s back as she was cooking and eating her delicious food, naturally developed an interest in cooking.
I was allowed to help a bit once I entered my 3rd year of elementary school, I was allowed to hold a kitchen knife in my middle school, and once I entered high school, I was allowed to handle the pot.
Having lived such a life, by the time I was in high school I had improved enough to make my own lunch. Sharing the contents of my lunch to my classmates was a daily thing.
After graduating high school, getting a job, and living alone, my hobby became even more intricate.
After all, I had the time and money. I bought all of the Japanese, Western, and Chinese cookbooks I could get my hands on; I studied the history of and reproduced the dishes of old.
As I was so immersed in cooking, the manager of the construction firm where I worked said to me,
“Your food is real good; I think you’re making a mistake in picking your job”
True, why was I working as a plumber in the first place? I just chose to work in a place with good job security so as to not worry my parents. I didn’t have any regrets.
About two years later, I was made to cook food for a party celebrating a successful project. The president said,
“Your food is far tastier and cheaper than that of the restaurants around here.”
Cooking was fun, so it wasn’t that stressful.
And so, coming back from shopping when I was twenty, for some reason, my hands were tied behind my back, and I’m surrounded by men carrying swords and spears.
“Who are you? Why are you here?”
That’s what I want to know as well. On my way home, I was swallowed by a mysterious light and I suddenly ended up here. Seems like I dropped my wallet and my belongings when I was caught; I currently didn’t have anything. My jeans and my white t-shirt were all I have right now. Hehehehe.
“What are you laughing at!”
Whoops, looks like I ticked him off. The person in front of me gave me a sharp glare. I just want to run away, barefoot if I have to. No, wait, since they’re assets as well it’s bad if you just throw your shoes away.
“Uhm, I’m Shuri. Where is this place?”
“I’m the one doing the questioning. Stop speaking unnecessarily.”
Fair enough. Taking a look around, I could see some slightly dirty tents which looked like they had popped out of old war movies. A soup being boiled in a pot which was put on top of firewood made one want to retort “Just which era is this?”. Some people were sharpening their swords and spears, while others were maintaining their bow and sharpening the arrows. In the middle of all this, I was caught as if I were a criminal.
“You said your name is Shuri. What is your affiliation? What village are you from?”
“I’m from the countryside in Japan.”
“Japan… never heard of it.”
“Um, I got lost, and I don’t know where this place is, but…”
“Shut up.”
Seems like I have no human rights here. Give me~1
“By the way, I’m quite hungry.”2
“And so are we, so shut up.”
Seems like the man acting like a leader in front of me was also feeling hungry. Looking around, there were four people surrounding me, but it seemed like they were also hungry. Apparently I came during meal time. Talk about bad timing.
“Captain, what’d we do?”
“Seems like there’s nothing we can take from him as well.”
“I think leavin’ him like this isn’ good either.”3
“But we can’t just leave him be. Let’s just kill him quickly and prepare for the battle.”
Well this is dangerous. Seems like it’s a pre-battle meal time. And it seems I’m going to be stripped of everything, including my body.
“If I may,”
“What?”
“I’m hungry, so can you let me cook something please?”
“…You were a cook?”
The towering man who seems to be the leader, let’s call him leader-san for convenience. He’s showing his suspicions clearly on his face. A good-looking guy with cropped blonde hair, and well-toned muscles. I, who am an average guy, am really jealous.4 That handsome leader wears an armor all over his body. I’ve only seen it in movies before, you know, that sort of armor.
“If it’s cooking then I can do more or less the basics. If you’re going to kill me, then please let me cook and eat something first.”
Of course I don’t like to die. I don’t want to die. I will not dieee!!!
“Amusing,”
Leader-san lets out a short laugh. It’s an expressionless laugh though. Once an ikemen always an ikemen no matter what he does, huh.
“Well then, try making something good. If you do, I’ll let you live.”5
“Captain? Are you serious?!”6
“We’re fighting soon. Raising morale with this kind of thing won’t be that bad. If it’s bad we can just kill him.”
Dangerous! It’s becoming like that one historical cooking manga!
I managed to borrow a pot, a cooking board, and a kitchen knife.7
“The ingredients are there.”
Milk, butter, flour, potato, carrots, leeks, fish, salt, and potatoes were where he pointed.
“Is there anything else?”
“None. Even this is already luxurious. Normally it’s just potato and salt soup.”
Well, that’s strenuous… Just thinking of it is already depressing.
“Well, let’s go with seafood cream stew. It would have been perfect if there’s shrimp, but since there’s none let’s go with Perch.”
Don’t underestimate perch. You can make good stock with it, and it can bring out the flavor.
I cut up three fish and give it a light roast, then cook it all the way by putting it into the pot and cooking it thoroughly. If you don’t have milk, butter, and flour, you can use the Perch’s broth as well, but I don’t think it will suit their taste so I refrained from doing so. Besides, cooking using firewood means that I can’t adjust the heat level, therefore I can’t cook anything that requires me to do so. This time only soups that can be made using high heat can be made. And above all, I’m not familiar with cooking using firewood. I only managed to make it by always being conscious about the strong heat.
“Go ahead.”
I serve the stew on a plate and give it to Leader-san. By the way, I removed the bones and internal organs. I made a perch soup, but I will be troubled if I leave the bones in.
“This is… The soup is white, huh.”
“Because it’s cream stew.”
“I’ll kill you if it’s not delicious, you know.”
How rude. I was limited by the available ingredients, but it should be good. Leader-san then nervously takes a bite. And then he froze for a moment.
“Uhm…?”
“Captain, how’s it?”
“…It’s delicious.”8
Leader-san then starts to eat the stew greedily.
“Oi, give me more.”
“Yes, yes. I made a lot, so please enjoy it to your heart’s content.”
“A lot? Even though there were only that many ingredients?”
“If you work it around with milk, perch, and water, even if there’s only that much ingredient you can make a lot. Everyone is going to work after this, right? As long as you eat moderately, eating good food can help bring out your strength.”
Leader-san looked surprised.
By the way, I did a lot of work to keep the flavor while increasing the amount.
“…I see, so you’ve calculated that far ahead, huh.”
Eh? No, I just thought that it’d better if there’s a lot of food to eat, though?
“You, do you have anywhere to go after this?”
“No. I don’t even know my way home.”
This place is clearly a foreign land. I begin to wonder if I can even go back to Japan. Leader-san, after finishing the cream stew, looked me in the eyes and said,
“If you have nowhere else to go, then join our corps.”
“Eh?”
“As our cook. Your job will be to provide us with good food. Until you can find your way home, stay here and cook for us.”
“Is that ok?”
“I am saying that it’s ok.”
“Uh… Well then, please take care of me from now on”
And so, I became a member of Leader-san’s corps.
- Arocks141: It’s literally this guy saying ‘give me’ in that japanese accent…
- Arocks141: Surrounded by five murderous, weapon wielding warriors and he isn’t just laughing, he’s also asking for food. This guy is truly fearless.
- Arocks141: God. Damn. Accents.
- Arocks141: It is sentences like these that make me feel like my English is improving.
- Arocks141: Shokugeki no Shuri! Shuri of Cooking!
- Arocks141: Literally, “Captain? Are you still sane?”
- Arocks141: And thus he marches into battle, in his left hand a pot, in his right a kitchen knife and on his back a wooden board!
- Arocks141: Now, if there’s a media hype about this and the two get together to become a couple, I’m officially calling this Mercenary of Cooking.
♠️💚